Rewards for Services Rendered
by Jessie Dark
Summary: Sanzo had found the Sutra's; and Gojyo talks to him.


Gojyo stepped into the room with only a perfunctory knock. Sanzo glanced up from the bed, he seemed to think for a moment, then he set aside the book he was reading and folded his hands; as if waiting. They shared a long stare before Gojyo finally glanced away and crossed to the window to open it. Sanzo opened his mouth to protest and Gojyo produced a pack of Marlboro's from his pocket. He swore the damned monk's eyes lit up.

Gojyo re-crossed the room and offered a cigarette, then lit it for Sanzo. He averted his eyes from the tremor in those pale fingers, using the excuse of finding a chair, which he spun around and straddled. He propped his chin on his hands and considered.

"It's a suck-ass way for them to reward you for your service," he finally declared.

Sanzo inclined a brow and returned the gaze. "Who?"

"The gods. I kept expecting Her Merciful Bitchiness to descend and save your ass again. Way I hear it; she's running out of time."

"She has all the time in the heavens; I, however, have extremely limited time." At those words Gojyo nodded, his expression annoyed.

"My point," the hanyou continued a few moments later, "is that you fought your way across this god forsaken wasteland we call Shangri-la, and back, with the damned sutras, and now you are gonna die from some sort of aplastic anemia. I mean she gave you some of my blood before."

"First, it would be all of your blood, then all of someone else's, second, she still needed me. I finished the mission." Sanzo drew on the cigarette, then fixed a look on Gojyo. "We finished the mission."

"It's a fucked up reward," Gojyo pointed out, he felt a tad sullen.

"It's not a reward." Sanzo glanced out the window.

"What are you doing with the sutras?" Gojyo was pretty damn sure he knew, but he had to ask. He was absolutely sure he knew when Sanzo continued to stare out the window and draw on the cigarette. Finally, the monk looked at him.

"I'm going to have Hakkai take responsibility for them."

"Figured that," Gojyo sighed. "Which means I'll be alone again." He lit up his own cigarette. Sanzo was watching him. Letting him talk.

"He'll go off somewhere, be a hermit or near enough. He won't let me go with him. I wouldn't survive in that sort of situation. And Goku," Gojyo considered Goku. All fused and in touch with himself and not really Goku any more. "He's avoiding people except for the times he comes down to see you. When you die he won't have any reason to deal with any of us."

"No, he won't."

"So I'll be alone again." Gojyo looked at the ember of his cigarette. "And that is the most fucking selfish shit that I ever let fall out of my mouth."

"The most honest shit I ever heard from you," Sanzo observed, not a dispute. "The most honest shit I've heard in quite awhile from anyone."

Gojyo smoked in silence.

"I thought of assigning you each a sutra," Sanzo announced. Gojyo choked on the inhale.

"What the fuck? I'd cut mine up to roll smokes and Goku would lose his or eat it."

"No, I just thought it would be a lousy fucking reward."

"No shit," Gojyo agreed fervently. "Why Hakkai?"

"Because he would and if I gave it to anyone else he'd worry about it anyway."

"Point," Gojyo agreed. He was silent for a while then finally spoke; "Do you think, if I stole those sutras and gave them to some random idiots to lose, Her Bitchiness would come down and save you so we could find them again?"

"What the fuck did I do today to make you threaten me with something like that?" Sanzo demanded, taking another cigarette.

Gojyo grinned, he couldn't help it. "I always figured that you'd be 'not saying a sutra' at my grave," he finally admitted.

"I won't be."

Gojyo choked on a surprised laugh at the flat statement and saw a brief grin on Sanzo's face. The hanyou was pretty sure no one was talking to the monk about the fact he was dying, everyone wanted to pretend it would all just sort itself out.

They smoked in silence for a while. "It's a shitty reward for all of us," Gojyo finally stated.

"Most rewards are."

"Yeah, well sexy naked women and riches would have been better than this," Gojyo blew a smoke ring. "You die, Goku goes off to live in the mountains and Hakkai takes the sutras and disappears into some quiet cave somewhere. And what the fuck is he supposed to do with them when he's going to die?"

"That, thankfully, is not my problem. I just had to figure out who to saddle with them at my own death."

"Guess that's reasonable," Gojyo granted.

They finished the cigarettes and Gojyo crossed over to the bedside, he picked up the pack and the lighter, held them up then tucked them under the mattress. "Hide 'em better if they are changing the bed linens. I'd hate for you to lose a nearly full pack."

Sanzo nodded, he reached out as if to grab Gojyo's wrist and they both stared at his hand, pale and shaking. "You and Goku could still talk," Sanzo began.

"No. It's not supposed to be me and Goku, unless we are waiting for you or Hakkai." Gojyo lifted his eyes to see Sanzo's nod. "The ikkou was born with you Sanzo, it dies with you." The monk looked at him, then nodded.

Gojyo wasn't one for dramatics, neither was Sanzo, the hanyou turned and then turned back at the door.

"Hey, Sanzo?"

"Yes."

"You going to go around again? Re incarnate?"

"According to the rules, as written, yes, I will have another cycle."

"Guess we'll be seeing you around then."

"You really are a bastard, to threaten a dying man like that, Sha Gojyo." They were both smiling faintly as the door closed between them.


End file.
